Two weeks ago today (or two weeks ago last night – still not clear), the Waldo Canyon Fire started. It’s now more than 95% contained and has been 100% contained on all Colorado Springs boundaries for several days now. It feels like a good time to organize some ideas about the local television coverage of the most destructive fire in Colorado’s history.
Nothing here is offered as definitive. Instead, it’s a handful of my personal thoughts, ideas, observations, and opinions.
The 9 thoughts below are by no means comprehensive. Such phenomena as the incredible fire fighting effort, the Community Rises event (driven by the Colorado Springs Independent and aired and streamed live by every local television and radio station, producing nearly $300,000 in donations in just 3 hours), the WildFireTees.com explosion (really cool story involving local marketing and design folks), and the local print media are not addressed here. Also, this is more about the intersection of local television and social media than social media alone (for which the Waldo Canyon Fire is a fantastic case study).
Please add anything you’d like to the comments section below or by tweeting me (@ethanbeute).
Photo of live, local television news coverage of the Waldo Canyon Fire as it blew from the Pike National Forest into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood of Colorado Springs. Shot by my son.
1. I Woke Up To Infomercials
Like the entire experience, the first afternoon of the fire (Saturday, June 23) was surreal. Photos and videos from that time show a beautiful, sunny, and hot day with a huge smoke plume growing west of Colorado Springs. I’d hiked a handful of mountains this year, including Cameron Cone in the Pike National Forest; it was extremely and dangerously dry everywhere. By late afternoon, it was clear that this could be “the big one.”
Throughout the evening, rather than watching it on television, thousands of people headed out to watch the fire from various overlooks around the city. At 10pm, just before going to bed, my wife and I sampled the local television newscasts to get an update on the fire. It was growing fast.
When I woke up the next morning at 6am, I turned on KOAA-TV (5), the local NBC affiliate and the station for which I worked for 5 years. What was on? Infomercials. Really.
I did not get a reply to this tweet.
The station opted for regularly scheduled programming, so infomercials continued until the local newscast began at 7am.
Apparently they didn’t imagine that everyone who went to sleep interested in and concerned about the fire on Saturday night might want to be served the latest information immediately upon waking up Sunday morning.
I don’t know if it was due to being a weekend (thin staff, limited contact between managers, no meetings). I don’t know if it’s because the General Manager and News Director are both quite new to our area and, therefore, failed to grasp the enormity of the potential in the fire (I know and like the former, I do not know the latter).
There’s no sense in speculating further. No matter the reason, it felt like a significant missed opportunity.
2. Early Commitment to Non-Stop Coverage
Meanwhile, my wife slept poorly that Saturday night. She got out of bed early Sunday morning around 3am and turned on the TV. She was greeted by live news coverage of the fire on KKTV (11), the local CBS affiliate. She found this extremely helpful and comforting.
Apparently, the station made an early commitment to provided non-stop coverage. They continued it for 130 hours – that’s 5 and a half days straight. The other local television news operations also provided non-stop coverage starting sometime on Sunday and continued for a few days, as well.
Bonus points to KOAA for refusing to use a “Breaking News” banner across the bottom of the screen when displaying information that was hours old. Bonus points to KKTV for including an in-studio interpreter translating live in sign language for the hearing impaired (that’s what service to the whole community looks like, btw).
Note to people who invariably complained about non-stop coverage on any/all stations: I get it. Once assured we were perfectly safe, our 9-year-old son became bored with the incessant coverage, too. But to complain about missing a repeat episode of the fifth incarnation of CSI is selfish at best. Try reading a book if you’re tired of wildfire coverage.
The fact is that our local television stations were honoring their commitment to the public, the foundation of their FCC licenses to broadcast. There was nothing more important that the stations could be doing than telling the community as much as possible about the Waldo Canyon Fire in those first few days. It’s impossible for any mass medium to satisfy hundreds of thousands of people with a singular, linear offering; you’re going to be disappointed sometimes if you rely on it.
It’s worth noting that non-stop coverage, which all our local affiliates provided for some period of time during the Waldo Canyon Fire, is extremely challenging to deliver these days.
Most local television stations across the country have very limited staffs, down several positions from their headcount highs of, perhaps, 5 or 10 years ago. I think it’s fair to make the generalized statement that most local TV stations are running as thin as possible, given the current challenges to their business model. I saw sports guys Jesse Kurtz (KKTV) and Rob Namnoum (KRDO) anchoring regular news coverage to help fill in the scheduling gaps. Beyond the handful of people you see on television, there’s an army of people behind the scenes – producers, photojournalists, technical directors, and others – who are completely necessary. All these positions had to be filled 24 hours per day, likely at great overtime expense to the station.
Each local TV station, then, was pushed to its limits in staffing up to provide continuous, local news and weather coverage.
Still, this early experience on the first night of the fire was emotionally powerful for my wife; it left a strong impression. I doubt she was alone in this. These are the kinds of experiences that win hearts and minds in a way that’s not easily lost.
Later that morning, she liked the station on Facebook and has relied on them for the past 2 weeks.
3. Fantastic Facebook Growth
My wife was not alone in turning to Facebook, either. Each station picked up thousands of new Facebook fans. I’d not been paying close attention, but my last memory of fan count by station went something like this:
KOAA 28,000 | KKTV 25,000 | KRDO (13, ABC) 20,000 | KXRM (21, FOX) ? (extremely rough guesstimates from a few months back)
Today they look like this:
KOAA 39,000 | KKTV 48,000 | KRDO 31,000 | KXRM 12,000 (rounded to nearest thousand)
Obviously, many, many people found a powerful reason to reach out to these stations on Facebook. I’d guess that a significant share are from out of town. Hopefully, the stations are already thinking about how to continue an engaging relationship with these new fans.
So much social sharing was taking place, though, that it was easy to keep up on the latest details of the fire, the evacuations, and other effects without watching the stations or liking them on Facebook.
As valuable a complement to the dissemination of information, exchange of ideas, and depth of coverage as social media proved to be, though, television broadcasting remained vital. There’s no other way to reach the masses with details so urgent and important. My take: valuable complement, but not yet realistic replacement.
4. Daily Press Briefings (To Watch Or Not To Watch?)
Press conferences have been held at least once daily since June 23. Incident Commander Rich Harvey and Forest Supervisor Jerri Marr became local celebrities. Mayor Steve Bach, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, CSFD Chief Rich Brown, CSPD Chief Pete Carey, and several other officials became fixtures, as well.
Dozens of local people, as well as the television and print media (individual staff members and entire organizations), would live-tweet important updates from these events – all with the #WaldoCanyonFire hashtag. These new facts would immediately make it to Facebook, as well. It was easy and convenient to keep up with evacuations, containment, resource adds, and other information without watching it live.
Aside from the horror of Tuesday night, June 26, as the fire blew down from the forest into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood (live television was an absolute necessity), I got everything I needed from Facebook and Twitter. This includes the heartwarming support of firefighters by people lining the streets at every shift change (pure gratitude, an absolute joy to see), daily press briefings, and other developments.
5. The Single Best Team on Local TV
Lisa Lyden and Rob Quirk have shared an anchor desk on KOAA for more than 20 years. Over that same period, they formed an unbeatable team with weather guy Mike Daniels and sports guy Lee Douglas, who sadly passed away earlier this year. This kind of tenure is extremely uncommon in the business these days.
The Colorado Springs/Pueblo television market has never seen a stronger news duo, nor will they ever see one again, given the state of the industry. With Lisa Lyden’s impending retirement after 30 years on the air and with the incredibly strong, unspoken connection between the two, Rob’s absence for a long-scheduled and well-deserved vacation was unfortunate for local viewers (and perhaps for the two of them).
With absolutely no slight intended to his substitute, who performed admirably, I felt that the single best anchor team on TV – Rob and Lisa – would have served this community better than any other. They’re both tried and true professionals, exceptional human beings, and deeply knowledgeable locals.
From the seat behind the anchor desk, no team has the combination of experience, perspective, empathy, and gravitas that they’d have brought to coverage of this disaster.
6. A Unique – And Missing – Perspective
Meteorologist Mike Madson is a 20+ year Colorado Springs television veteran, with another decade before that in Salt Lake City. Less than a month after his tenure at KOAA ended, the Waldo Canyon Fire erupted.
An intelligent, humorous, kind, and humble person, Mike Madson’s got a master’s degree in geoscience and teaches astronomy, meteorology, and other classes at a local college. In my opinion, his unique perspective would have added so much value to the news and weather reporting around this fire. He was the only Colorado Springs resident on the highly-esteemed KOAA weather team, toward which absolutely no slight is intended (I know and like each of them very much).
Just as former KRDO reporter and web guy (and insanely prolific tweeter) Barrett Tryon provided live reports for his previous station on Tuesday night during the firestorm, so too could Mike have provided the only truly enterprising weather reporting on the fire.
I put “weather” and “reporting” together here to separate it from the solid, in-studio work performed by the weather people on all the local stations (Mike Daniels, Craig Eliot, Brad Sowder, Brian Bledsoe, Brandon Borremans, Matt Meister, Terry Gerbstadt, and others). I added “enterprising” to connote the seeking out and sharing of an extra element or an additional layer of information beyond the press briefing facts commonly provided by all stations and reporters. So, the imagined role here is as an additional resource set out to gather and tell stories from out in the field from a weather and science perspective.
I’ve never worked with a more selfless television talent, so I doubt he’d have refused a request to add his perspective in the face of this unforgettable event. I reasonably suspect there was no request.
7. The Most Helpful Technology on Local TV
I found one piece of technology so helpful and compelling that I wanted to include it in this post. Nothing gave me a better understanding of exactly where the fire was than the 3D mapping of KRDO meteorologist Matt Meister.
The ridgelines, the canyons, the neighborhoods, the streets, the highway – it was all very clear, put things into perspective, and provided context for references we were hearing in press briefings. Though an active local hiker who knows the area relatively well, I gained a better understanding of the geography and topography immediately west of Colorado Springs through this on-air presentations.
Even if locals didn’t see his 3D maps, I expect that we collectively have a far better understanding of wildfires, of our local geography, and of the character of our community for the Waldo Canyon Fire news and weather coverage in all its forms.
8. National Coverage (Good Enough For Who It’s For?)
I choose not to spend my hard-earned money on cable or satellite service. I watch no cable news. I saw the top of just one national network newscast (NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams on Friday, June 29 after President Barack Obama’s visit to Colorado Springs). So this thought is largely speculative, but I’ll back it with some anecdotal evidence.
My guess is that most national news coverage of the Waldo Canyon Fire was quick, dramatic, and shallow – six or eight shots of the worst flames in Mountain Shadows accompanied by four or five facts about the size of the fire and the progress of the fight. That may have been enough for most people, but certainly not for all.
Panoramic Photo: Pikes Peak and the Waldo Canyon Fire from the summit of Almagre Mountain (12,367 feet)
I produced photos and videos every day from Saturday, June 23 through Tuesday, July 3. Though some of the photos are quite good, the work in general is unremarkable – nothing like the dramatic, fiery shots on local and national television or flying around on Facebook.
Still, the videos I’ve posted to YouTube have nearly 40,000 views and the photos and videos I’ve posted to Flickr have more than 25,000 views to date. Yet those are just drops in an ocean of “citizen journalist” content created during this event.
The comments that came with those views are what kept me going – people from all over the country thanking me for helping keep them informed. Some grew up here. Others just visited. Many have family here. All expressed their support and wished us well. Clearly national coverage was significantly lacking for those who cared.
Not only are individuals searching, finding, and consuming the content of “citizen journalists,” so too are the formal media outlets. National and local media all sought and used extensively photos and videos from local residents.
Requests to use my photos and videos came from ABC News/Good Morning America through YouTube (granted through email 6/24), CBS News through Facebook, Twitter, and email (granted by phone 6/25), and WeatherNation through YouTube (granted 3 times to 3 different producers).
I’ve got no idea what, if anything, was actually used by these outlets. I was far more interested in sharing content with my immediate social circle online, which has grown to include many new, local people during this event.
Panoramic Photo: Waldo Canyon Fire and Pikes Peak from Pinon Valley Park
9. An Incredibly Well-Documented Disaster
Being one of the most recent, the Waldo Canyon Fire must be among the most well-documented disasters ever. As mobile devices that shoot 8mp photos and 1080p HD video become ubiquitous, we’ll all be equipped to shoot and share our experiences.
Very early photo and video documentation came from this guy and his family (very odd story) and by these mountain bike riders (training on Rampart Range Road).
The two best videos produced during the Waldo Canyon Fire (in my opinion) did not come from media outlets, but from this north side resident (who had an ideal perspective, inspired vision, and nice equipment) and by this CSFD videographer (plays like an episode of Cops, minus the methamphetamine).
Two animated flyovers of the fire area with growth of the fire color coded were produced by this guy (using publicly available infrared flyover data!).
Often, the local stations would share this content socially or within their broadcasts. KRDO even brought into their studio a young videographer who irresponsibly, selfishly, and opportunistically headed into the mandatory evacuation zone during the height of the fire fight to shoot his own video (his business address is an apartment or condo 12 miles safely east of the Mountain Shadows evacuation zone – east, even, of Powers Boulevard (Kansas border in my book)).
During that in-studio interview, anchor James Jarman, who I respect personally and professionally, acknowledged that both the station and the shooter would take heat for the video captured in obvious violation of the evacuation order. I found the whole thing consistent with KRDO’s brand of news, which tends to be a bit more heightened or exaggerated in tone than KKTV or KOAA. Say what you will about that style – I accept it as an actual point of differentiation that some of the viewing audience prefers.
An honest mistake by a young reporter. Still, it’s a reflection of the brand. I did not get a reply to this tweet.
The obvious point: coverage came in many forms from all kinds of places. Television news on air and on social networks relied
Conclusion
Obviously, there are so many places I could have taken this and so many things I could have included. I produced this for myself (it’s interesting to look back on your ideas months or years later), but also to encourage thought and discussion.
Share your thoughts about what’s here (and what’s not) by leaving a comment. With what do you agree or disagree? Why? What are your most memorable television or social media moments of the past 2 weeks?
Thanks to the fire fighters who came from all over the country to help fight this fire (34 states represented, including Alaska and Hawaii). Thanks to all the agencies involved in the strategy and execution of fighting the fire and keeping our local citizens safe and informed. Thanks to our local media for keeping us informed and connected. Thanks to all the organizations that assisted those in need. Thanks to every one of our community members who made contributions of any kind to help one another.
A challenging chapter in Colorado Springs history is nearing its close.
My top two takeaways from the Waldo Canyon Fire experience: live in gratitude and love your neighbor.
Double rainbow over Colorado Spring on Tuesday, July 3. Most received the rain and the rainbow with gratitude. Some saw it as a sign, blessing, or gift.
Very interesting observations. I, too, got a lot of my information from Twitter. I should say now that I was not in the evacuation zone, so I wasn’t looking for information for my family’s safety. I was paying attention so I’d know what was going on and if there were any calls for help that I could respond to.
In addition to Twitter and Facebook, I watched 24-hour coverage for most of the week of the fire. I preferred KOAA’s coverage, and they’re the station I watch regularly. My reasons for that bore out during the fire coverage.
I do not watch KRDO because I find that they sensationalize the news way too much for my taste; this was true during the fire as well, I felt.
From time to time I watched KKTV, especially on those days that KOAA scaled back their coverage. What annoyed me about them was that they often sang their own praises while condemning other stations’ coverage or decisions. Their “breaking news” banner also irritated me. I even mentioned it to them (via Twitter or Facebook, I don’t recall) that information that is hours old is no longer “breaking.”
I also heard KKTV’s telephone interview with a former Navy man whom they asked many questions about the MAFFS mission. He had no idea and was in no way qualified to answer their questions, and I called them out on it. They told me that they hadn’t heard from the 302nd Airlift Wing’s public affairs office, so I tweeted to them myself. That apparently didn’t go over well, but it got the 302nd to make my husband (a MAFFS pilot with them) do a phone interview with KKTV and actually give them accurate information. I would have preferred that KKTV not talk about MAFFS at all than to interview some guy who didn’t know what he was talking about. That’s shoddy work in my mind.
I never once turned to KXRM because it’s a Fox station and I don’t trust Fox at all.
As you said, I would like to have seen Rob Quirk on air for KOAA, but I felt Zach Thaxton did a good job. He was very human when he choked up on air on Tuesday night when the fire attacked homes.
So after all of it, I’ll continue to watch KOAA for my daily news fix and to look to Twitter for quick information.
Great thoughts – especially the MAFFS details you shared. Very interesting insight.
That we can communicate directly with the information providers (in this case KOAA, KKTV, etc) is a relatively new wrinkle to which they’re not yet accustomed and with which they don’t yet feel wholly comfortable. That’s one of the reasons I included the two tweets in the post that didn’t get replies.
My family was never directly threatened, either. We were about 4 miles from the closest evacuation zone.
Agree- Zach did a nice job. Considering Lisa’s imminent retirement and her long tenure with Rob, though, I felt it worth mentioning.
Thanks so much for reading – and for leaving such a rich comment.
Another thought that occurred after I posted: even though you didn’t address print media, I was thoroughly disgusted with the Denver Post photographer who was caught numerous times inside evacuation zones and eventually was cited. I understand that the news business is competitive, but he put not only himself but also the emergency workers in the area in danger by being where he wasn’t supposed to be.
Was not aware of that, but it disgusts me in principle, as well. That’s why I included a mention of that kid in thought 9 who headed into the mandatory evacuation zone specifically to shoot video of burning houses. So selfish.
As one of the producers who covered this fire from in the control room, I very much appreciate Ethan’s perspective. I spent a lot of time sourcing pictures on Facebook in order to get the right ones to air. I must admit a sharing mis-step though.. I took a picture from a friend I trust and shared it to the station wall. After being called out on the mistake, I removed it and apologized. (it was from the Oakland fires). Most of our viewers understood and appreciated that I admitted it. In my opinion, that’s the only way to do it. In hindsight I would have done some things differently–but non-stop coverage doesn’t afford much thinking.
Very nice work throughout the non-stop wildfire coverage, Stefanie. Sourcing of images was a short theme in the comments on my Facebook link to this blog post.
Though I’ve never been in your shoes/seat/whatever, I can imagine how fast things are moving, as well as the pressure to keep up.
Being honest – with yourself and with your viewers/fans/followers – is the best and only thing you can do, no matter the circumstance.
Ethan,
Pretty good breakdown overall…
That said. I take issue with your comment that only Mike Madson could provide truly enterprised weather reporting on this event. Here’s the reason-others actually did it, including myself. If you think that everything I said in regards to the weather, terrain, or fire behavior came from another source during this event, you are highly mistaken. I’ll take your oversight as a compliment though as it means my own thoughts must have been delivered with authority and credibility.
Since you used Mike’s experience as the sole support for your argument, I’d like to let you know that I’m author of multiple papers in American Meteorological Society Journals and worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research before entering television. Maybe it’s because I busted my ass and worked 15 hour days to provide as much insight as I could, but I find your comment here ignorant to the fact that there are several other highly qualified meteorologists and physical scientists at mine and other stations in this market that provide THEIR OWN unique and enterprised weather/fire science information during this fire.
If because your time working with Mike makes you think he would’ve done a good job during the fire, that is fine…and I agree. His presence was missed in KOAAs coverage. But to suggest that he is the only one that could’ve done it is simply off base.
With respect,
Matt Meister
Thanks for giving this a read, Matt. As noted here and throughout the experience (primarily via Twitter), I value and respect your work.
My imagination for him in this scenario – which was not made as clear as I’d like, I guess – was *outside* the studio as an *additional* resource. I’d love to have seen him sent out as a “reporter” to find and tell unique aspects of the story from a weather/science perspective.
In making my suggestions here, I was not ignorant to the fact that you gather and prepare information in an enterprising and professional way (rather than simply passing on material from other sources). Outside the context of the wildfire, I greatly respect the work it takes to put together a solid forecast and tell a complete and compelling weather story day in and day out.
Also, I acknowledged earlier in the post the extreme lengths stations and their staffs had to go to provide around-the-clock coverage – including your own 15 hour days. Extremely taxing – and especially demanding when you approach your work the way it seems like you do.
Obviously, Mike is not the only accomplished and experienced meteorologist in our television market.
I feel strongly, though, that it would have been a benefit to KOAA and to television viewers to have had him called in for more perspective throughout this historic event.
Thanks again for reading – and for adding to the discussion. I appreciate it very much.
Understood. When I read that section, I did not grasp the outside the studio aspect you intended to convey.
I’m still in agreement that Mike would’ve added to KOAAs coverage of the fire. Unfortunately, his abscence, Lisa’s imminent departure and other recent changes (in addition to ones we may not yet know about) are part of a massive upheaval at an organization that has been, up until the last 7 or 8 months, extremely stable in my 11 years here.
Watching from my home in Maine I was impressed with the local coverage. As a native Coloradon, as soon as I saw the first tweets of smoke plumes, I went to the local news sites. KKTV’s live streaming was most helpful to me as I watched and persisted in contacting numerous family members in the Springs area to check on their safety. Given the scope of this event, it is truly surprising there weren’t more mistakes and misinformation. The local media did a terrific job.
Twitter was invaluable as an information resource. And the humor expressed over “weather control satellites” and bear invasions relieved a lot of stress for everyone.
And Ethan, I am originally from Limon. I am not a Kansan. I am a fourth generation native Coloradon. The people living on the plains doctor and shop in Colorado Springs which helps your city’s economy. While I understand your criticism of the videographer who was not from the affected area, the dig was not necessary, nor appreciated.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here. You’re among many natives who were immediately interested in and concerned about the progress of and fight against the fire.
Agree: given the speed and quantity of information, our local media did a great job. Also, the #weathercontrolsatellites meme was fantastic (as was Mayor Steve Bach’s face as he tried to field the question!).
No disrespect to our eastern neighbors intended. Academy Blvd (not even Powers) functions as the KS border to me. I try to convey some personality in these posts, rather than wash them bland with complete correctness. I know we’re all in this together.
Thanks again, Shelley – I really appreciate your time and your contribution here!
This disaster will function as a great case study to learn from. I know I’m salivating at the idea of pulling all the data in and trying to pull some lessons from it.
I really liked that most official agencies tied their accounts together. When official information came out, I visually knew it because there would be six accounts all at once with the same information pop into my HootSuite. I’d put this as a best practice, I really liked it.
Barrett (@tryonb) did a wonderful job acting as a hub of information, so kudos to him!
While the information wasn’t always accurate nor time consistent, (this can never be controlled in a Twitter-like environment) we used it heavily at Penrose Hospital in our Incident Command center. I was present many evenings in our command center and can express that we did monitor the #waldocanyonfire hashtag. We tried to RT credible information and add to the discourse on #waldocanyonfire where we could add value in some way. Had we became more directly involved in the disaster, Twitter would have been a main communication channel for us to push information out to the media and public.
We’re going to be using this disaster to better construct how *WE* plan on using social media channels during a major crisis. That plan will be drawn up in the coming months.
Thanks for providing this blog as place to share our opinions! Also, THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS!
Matt Kaskavitch
Social Media Coordinator, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services
Agree – the corroboration of info by multiple Twitter accts was very helpful. Also, credible people like you (Penrose) RTing helped amplify good info to drown out the bad/questionable/unconfirmed.
Thanks so much for giving this a read and adding your insights from a unique perspective. I’d love to find out what you pull from any data you round up.